We must enforce immigration laws

America is made strong by our commitment to law. In the Supreme Court, chiseled on the wall are the words “equal justice under law.”

Do we still believe those words today, or does it depend on who is interpreting the quote? How do we have equal justice when people who come here illegally are not held accountable for their actions? Personal responsibility and accountability are lost values in our country today. When people break a law, they should pay or serve the proper penalty. By breaking the law, they put their family at risk and the family may suffer. That is the consequence for their choice of actions. People who favor amnesty try to confuse this choice and the resulting consequence with having compassion for the family.

We must stand strong as a state and nation and enforce our laws. Arizona and Oklahoma have passed tough illegal immigration legislation and time will tell its impact on those states. Colorado passed several laws dealing with illegal immigration in the special session of a few years ago but has done little to progress further. I support streamlining visa processes for people coming to work, visit and attend college, but only after we secure our borders.

Throughout the 2008 session, Colorado legislators proposed several bills pertaining to illegal immigration, most of which have been killed on party-line votes. Last week, SJM02, which was heard in committee, called on Congress to expeditiously construct the remaining miles of border fence allowed under the “Secure Fence Act of 2006.” Sounds reasonable, but the Democrats in the Senate said this would not solve the problems and killed it on a party-line vote.

Senate Bill 74, sponsored by Sen. Cadman, proposed that any person who is here illegally can be charged with trespassing on public or private property, and may be fined $500 for the first offense and a class four felony for any subsequent offenses. That bill was killed in committee. Another bill, which I was the Senate sponsor of, House Bill 1039 sponsored by Rep. Summers, would have protected voting rights provided to American citizens by mandating that everyone who votes present a valid photo ID issued by the U.S. government. That bill was also killed in committee.

Out of the 10 immigration bills proposed this year, only one has passed. Senate Bill 139, sponsored by Sen. Schultheis, requires the Department of Labor and Employment to share information on its Web site with employers of the Federal E-Verify program, which gives an employer a tool to check the identification documents of new hires.

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I believe Teddy Roosevelt summed up immigration very well in a letter to the American Defense Society in 1919: “In the first place, we should insist that the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us. … This is predicated upon the man’s becoming an American and nothing but an American. There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American but something else also, isn’t an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag. … We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language … and we have room for but one sole loyalty, and that is a loyalty to the American people.”

People who immigrate to our country legally fit well into the words of Roosevelt. We need to enforce our laws and honor those who legally immigrated to our great country.